Rocky Road

A guidebook and a nose for adventure

With the way that bank holidays and Easter fell this year (and throw in the Royal Wedding for good luck!) you only had to take 3 days off of work to get 11 days of holiday in a row. It was almost too good to be true – and something we wanted to take advantage of.

The decision just then had to be – where should we go? We were keen for somewhere warm. Beside the sea if possible. With old and interesting things to see. Cyprus? Turkey? Crete? Mainland Greece?
These were all ideas swimming around in our heads.

But unfortunately they didn’t get out of our heads, and into a booking quick enough. It would seem that pretty much everyone else in the UK had the same plans as us (go figure!!), and flights were booking up and prices were sky rocketing.

We don’t mind spending money on travel, but there is only so much we are willing to spend (yes, you could call us frugal!). So as the prices climbed we decided that actually we didn’t mind where we went! We just liked the idea of a holiday – anywhere! So we decided to leave it to the last moment and see what deals we could get.

So just over a week before Easter we did a search on Skyscanner for flights from London to – well anywhere! And we took the cheapest flight. To Zadar in Croatia.

We hadn’t been to Croatia and once we confirmed that there would be some accommodation available at that time of year we booked it. And as luck would have it we got what we wanted – by the sea, old stuff and interesting travel!

We bought a Lonely Planet book, booked the first two nights accommodation and then headed off on our flight. We had a kind of idea of where we wanted to go, but were happy to play it by ear. We followed our noses, the weather and took each day as it came. Travelling at its best.

Zadar is a small town, and I think has just come to be on the tourist route. The airport has recently been upgraded (although there are only a handful of flights a day, and you share the runway with the air force!) and on the day we arrived a big cruise ship was in port. But it was a great place to explore – the sun salutation and sea organ (both designed by a local architect and both so unique and cool), the church, the streets, the harbour, and of course the ice cream! Croatia has a thing for ice cream and it is good (almost enough to rival Italy and its gelato).

After a couple of days we had explored all there is to explore, so we decided to hire a car and head out of town.

Pag Island is known for its cheese and its lamb. We didn’t have any cheese but we can tell you the lamb is good! But seriously, who would think that grazing sheep on this kind of landscape would work?

Most of the island is just rock – lots and lots of white rock!
We decided to head to Rab Island for the night, and so got to experience Croatian travel at its best – roll on, roll off ferries! So easy, so quick, so simple.

We can imagine Rab Island being quite the party town in summer but it was pretty much dead in April. There were a few boats around (including one called Rangiroa – must have a kiwi owner!) but not many people. Still we enjoyed exploring it, and had a lovely run along the waterfront the next day (I do love to run near the water!)

The coastline of northern Croatia is pretty amazing. Just huge rock cliffs. And it seems that the inland is very wet, and the coast and the island very dry. But we didn’t want to just explore the coast, so we headed into the wet interior. To the fantastic Plitvice Lakes National Park.

We had to purchase ponchos, and it was a rather wet experience but we are so glad we went.
It is beautiful.

We stayed in a lovely eco hotel near the parks entrance, and would recommend the place to others if you are travelling through.

It was then time to check out another national park, but this one felt completely different. Paklenica National Park is all about huge cliffs and rock climbers. There were rock climbers galore!

We just had a little wander, ate our snack of a bag of crisps and headed out again! And onto Split for the night.
Now Split is a touristy place. It’s the gateway to the islands and a stop for pretty much all tourists who come to Croatia. But because we were early in the season it wasn’t too heaving, and we could still find ways to get away from them all!
We rented an apartment in Diocletian’s Palace, and wandered all the small streets until we felt like locals! We marvelled at the way that within such a touristy place there is still the feel of *real* people living there.

We climbed the bell tower which was quite something – the stairs were rickety and you could see right through them. But the view from the top was worth it.

Then it was time for another ferry – this time to Brac Island, one of the bigger and more popular islands off the coast of Croatia. The sun shone as we left, so we spent most of the ride on the deck reading our books and enjoying the vitamin D, but popped downstairs just before docking to take in a bit of the royal wedding (just in time to see the Queen head to the church, although we had to get to our cars before we could take a look at Princess Catherine).

Brac is known for its white rock and apparently the White House in the US is made from the rock from here. That seems a bit excessive doesn’t it! But the rock wasn’t quite so apparent as you drove along (there was quite a bit of vegetation), but the houses were definitely made from it.
We headed to Bol for lunch which is one of the more touristy places on the island. We got to sit by the port and relax, before heading along the waterfront for Stocky to have a dip (I wasn’t quite so brave!)

The water was amazingly clear and I can see why the tourists must flock here in the summer time.
We were headed to the far end of the island for the night to stay in an apartment we had found on the internet. The guide book states that Sumartin is quiet and there isn’t much to do – and obviously they don’t get many tourists because EVERYONE took a good look as we drove through the streets. (Having said that we did get lost, so some of them did see us a few times!)

The apartment we stayed in was amazing – so quiet with a balcony with fantastic views over the sea. We couldn’t have asked for anything better. (And the host even threw in a couple of bottles of wine, and fresh fish for dinner too!)

We had one more night before our holiday finished, so we just drove and decided to stop when we felt we were close enough to Zadar to get back in plenty of time. And so our last stop turned out to be the small and pretty Trogir.

Then it was back to Zadar for our flight home.

We didn’t know what to expect with Croatia, but we felt we got to see lots of different sides of this country. We are keen to head down the islands on a boat at some point, and I’m keen to check out Montenegro as well. So I am sure we shall return at some point in the not-to-distant future.

Lovely Luxembourg

Yes, it just started off as another country to tick off the list (yes, we’re all about the numbers!), but it ended up as a place we would like to return to.

Luxembourg – a place you have heard about, but a place that so few people seem to have visited. And it is so close really; nestled inbetween Belgium, Germany and France. This of course meant a great place to get to via train (cause as you know we LOVE train travel) and a perfect candidate for a long weekend break.

We aren’t great ones for planning, well at least when travel is concerned, so we weren’t prepared for pretty much all the tourist sites being closed. I wouldn’t say Luxembourg City is a happening place at the best of times but on a cold and grey February weekend it was almost desolate.

This didn’t make for a very great start to the trip to be honest. We weren’t feeling the love! In fact we were thinking and planning ways to leave the city as soon as possible. But then we walked and wandered and reminded ourselves it is a city of only about 80,000 people – less than half the size of Wellington! – so gave it another chance.

And we are glad we did! There wasn’t bustle, but there was history and beauty.

We walked and wandered and took in the sites. We are interested in returning in summer because there are heaps of trees, and I think the place would have a completely different feel with blue skies and green trees.

Some of the highlights were:
* A fantastically yummy dinner at a restaurant – www.speltzluxembourg.com
* Getting a better understanding for the history of the city at a museum – and loving their MASSIVE glass elevator that was more like a moving room than a lift
* Great hot chocolate (read hot milk with huge lump of chocolate to melt in it!) at a cafe outside the Palais Grand-Ducal
* Seeing a squat right opposite some very new and very flash apartments

On the Sunday we took the train up the country, to see more of the place through the windows of the train, and had a couple of hours meandering through the snow in Clervaux.

(This was the point that Stocky cursed my choice of luggage – a trundle bag. Backpacks only from now on!)

Then back through Brussels and onto London for a very enjoyable, and rather train-heavy weekend!

Is ice still snow?

Being the creatures of habit that we are, we headed back to the wonderful Meribel-Mottaret to have fun in the snow for the 4th consecutive year in the middle of January.
(Yes, I realise I am rather late in posting this, but I was hoping that Mr Stockman may have put together a video montage to go with the post. However, I guess that seeing as we still don’t have the montage following the sky dive we did over five years ago I should have known the wait would have been in vain! It’s ok – he doesn’t read this blog – he’ll never know what I have written! )

This time, however, we decided to go for 2 weeks and really make the most of the snow and getting our bodies in ski/snowboard-ready states. The first week we had four friends with us, which made for fun runs together, a lot more drinking (!) and a lovely relaxing time.

The second week it was just me and Stocky which meant it was rather more sedate (read Stocky playing games on the computer and me reading and sleeping!)!

Although we were out on the snow for 13 of the 15 days, we didn’t do any really long days as the weather just didn’t play nice with us. Don’t get me wrong – the weather was AMAZING – it just meant that for the 15 days we were there, it snowed just once – and that was only a light sprinkling. (Although we shouldn’t complain because I read somewhere the other day that there are places in the Alps which STILL haven’t had any snow – 54 days since the last snow fall! That is absolutely amazing in the middle of winter. Time to blame global warming I feel). So we haven’t pushed our bodies and really got into ski/snowboard bunny status just yet.

Having said that, Stocky is now a whizz on the board and just speeds down the mountain at a million miles an hour. I am getting over my fear of falling and have started to pick up speed and try different runs and test myself a little more. I guess going with others is good for that – pushing you out of your comfort zone. We both weren’t fans of the sheet ice that started to be around on our second week there though!

So Stocky is already counting down the days until his next trip in the middle of March. Let’s hope there is more powder this time to bring a smile to that face of his!

As I mentioned Stocky has a new toy for the snow – a camera that attaches to his helmet and allows him to film himself hurtling down the mountain, and for him to “chase-cam” us going down the runs at a slightly more leisurely pace. I promise the video footage will come – I just make no promises about when!

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays from us to you. Check out our Christmas letter here. Go on, you know you want to!

Roaming the Street

This past Sunday me and Stocky took to the streets of London and reignited our love for this city of ours.

It started off with a yummy yum cha with friends at Royal China in Baker Street. Although there was a wait, it was the kind of food I was hankering for, and I think it was worth the wait – and pretty reasonable prices too.

We needed to do some shopping, and as it was warmer than it had been last week, and seeing it was a Sunday (and a Sunday before Christmas to boot) and we knew the tubes would be crowded, we started our wandering. We had to go over Oxford Street, and seeing as neither of us could be bothered with the crowds we turned left then right then left then right (or something like that!) to keep out of the way. I always find it truly amazing how quiet the streets each side of a main drag are. It seems that everyone feels the need to be squashed close to other human beings.

Our first stop was Altea Gallery. I love looking in the window each time I walk past, and this time was no different. There was a fantastic map in the window of London from 1828, but at £7,000 it won’t be one we will be buying any time soon (although we are keen to see if we can find a print of it!).

After a quick stop off to check out the boots at Duo (I’ve had 4 pairs of their boots already since coming to London!), we then ventured into Timberland on Regents Street as I was keen to buy some snow boots. But so it seems was half of London – the place was chaos! I found out that my beloved boots are pretty much sold out, so we quickly retreated back to the quiet back streets.

We went up Kingly Street, which runs parallel to Carnaby Street and always seems to be deserted. The shop keepers look truly bored, and the woman sitting in the small gallery almost looked at us pleadingly to allow her some escape from the boredom. But we didn’t oblige as I had some shoes to show off (although I did try to tempt Stocky into Sacred Cafe for a Chai Latte as we went past!). I LOVE the shoes in Irregular Choice and always go in to touch them and see if today will be the day I will leave with a pair! While in Carnaby Street we also appreciated the fantastic Christmas decorations.

We then followed our noses and I found a great wine bar I had been to a few years ago with friends and had no idea where it was! Unfortunately it was closed but I shall return again soon. Then we weaved our way through Soho, commenting on places we had eaten at or drunk at before (Garlic & Shots, Busaba Eathai, Gay Hussar) and places that I’d heard about but are still on the list (Milk Bar, Green Carnation)

Then finally we made it to Foyles - our actual destination! Stocky bought a few books and I just looked as I have quite a few on the go at the moment. Then because you can’t have enough books (!) we headed to Forbidden Planet for Stocky to pick up some more and a board game for good measure!

Now our actual shopping was done, we did a bit of a detour up Neal Street to see if I could be tempted to part with some cash on new stockings (I couldn’t) at Tabio, past Scoop which does great gelato but it needs to be warmer for me to be tempted in (although there was quite a few people in the shop), and finally to Le Pain Quotidien to pick up a chocolate bomb to bring home for dessert.

We finally entered Holborn Station about 4.5kms away from our start, a little colder, a little lighter in the pocket but heavier in the back pack (!), more aware of how much we know of this city of ours, and more in love with the streets and stores and places that make this place our home.

Kitsch Heaven

Today I headed along to Drink Shop Do after someone saw it and thought of me – and it is SO me!

It is totally kitschy, and totally cool.
Hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows served in a fine china tea cup.
A great selection of homemade cakes – I had an apple and blueberry one.
Old board games that bring back memories.
Great prints that I just wanted to buy on the spot.

And in the evening they do cocktails. So heading back soon for one of those!
(And I promise to take photos next time!)

I have just signed up to Tripbod to offer my services to people coming to London on holiday so I am all excited about finding great places like this to show them. This is what living in London is all about – the variety and fabulous quirky places that are hidden around every corner. I’m all enthused and ready to hunt down many more great places.

The British Seaside

This past weekend we headed down to the Kent coast with some English friends to stay at their caravan. We went to their place for dinner on Friday night (and I started dreaming about owning our own home!) and then drove down to Herne Bay late in the evening to try to avoid the traffic (although not sure that can ever really be done in the UK).

We arrived at the caravan park about 9:30pm and headed down to the caravan clubhouse for a few drinks, to watch the entertainment and play a few games of pool. It was all a lot of fun, and quite an experience!

Then on Saturday morning, after a yummy greasy breakfast at a local cafe, we headed down the coast a bit to Reculver to check out the fort, and wander the sea wall and walk off the grease!

And cause we had the camera we took a few arty shots!

Including lying in the sun and waiting for the starlings to start swarming. They didn’t quite do what we wanted – to swarm in front of the Reculver fort – but this will do!

We then headed back to the caravan and picked up some gear and headed down to the beach. The plan was to head into the sea (we even had our wetsuits with us) but instead Jane and I lay on the recliners and read

and Tim and Stocky played with the kite (in quite light winds I must add).

We stayed at the beach until the sun had almost lost all its heat, and then we headed back to the caravan, and then into Whitstable for a yummy curry for dinner. Then it was on to an amazing old thatched barn that had been converted into a pub and we stayed there till last orders (11pm on the dot in the country!).

On Sunday the sun didn’t come out to play, but funnily enough I am sure it felt warmer than Saturday! So we walked along the seafront to Whitstable village, had a look around, grabbed some yummy fish and chips for lunch and then walked back to the caravan. I headed to bed to read my book (which means I fell asleep after about 2 pages), Jane did a crossword and Stocky and Tim headed out with the kite again, but this time in much stronger winds that tested Stocky’s strength (sorry – no photos!).

Then home back to London on Sunday evening all relaxed and ready for whatever this week throws at us.

I'm the King of the World

We are members of the Historic Royal Palaces, and as such, get access to all sorts of members events. None have really jumped out at us, until we saw we could do a tour of the roofs of Hampton Court Palace. So we booked the tickets back in May, and then went on the tour today.

We decided to cycle down as a way to get our exercise in for the day, to make it a bit of a fun day excursion and to do some more exploring of London.

It actually isn’t that far (only 24km) and shows you how small London is, that we could get from NW to SW fairly easily. We went down fairly main roads to get to Kew, but then ventured onto the tow path to cycle along the Thames. That was lovely and green, and nice to be by the water, but was really bumpy, and hard on the arms!

But I saw places I would love to live, especially this one that had its own parking garage for a long boat!

Once we got to Teddington lock (where there was a traffic jam of boats!), we headed inland, and through Bushy Park (to see the deer) then popped out at Hampton Court.

I do love the South West part of London, and if we choose to live in London long term, I think I would definitely like to head down to that area. There are lots of lovely parks, you get the feel of the country with all the green and open spaces, you can get into London fairly easily, but just as easily get out of it if you want!

The tour took about an hour, and we got to hear lots of interesting bits of history about the palace and surrounding areas, as well as getting a different perspective on the area.

By the time the tour finished it was well past lunch, so we headed to the local pub (which we have been to a number of times before) and had a really yummy meal with really fresh ingredients, read the papers, before heading back on our bikes to cycle back to Richmond (only 9km this time) to catch the train home.

Now it’s time to sit back, relax and watch some TV before calling it a night, and doing lots more fun things tomorrow.

Winners!

Well, finishers at least!

On Saturday both Stocky and I competed in the London Triathlon (the largest in the world apparently), competing in the sprint distance – 750m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run. We have been training for just over 10 weeks and felt ready for it. And we were both happy with our times – 1:29:22 for Stocky and 1:40:17 for me.

So now onto the next challenge – an Olympic distance next year?
We shall see how long the motivation lasts!

All dressed up at home, ready to head down to the venue.

Look how much stuff you have to take with you to compete in an event like this!

Boiling in Berlin

To celebrate our fifth anniversary (wow – where have the past 5 years gone?!) we headed to Berlin. The plan was to go to Italy, but it is expensive, and at the moment we are watching our pennies a little bit (just a little though…..)

So on Wednesday night we headed off to the German capital. I have been to Berlin before (about 7 years ago) and loved it, so was looking forward to sharing it with Stocky. He, however, had heard so many people say great things about the city, I think he was thinking he would go and dislike it. I am happy to say, however, that he too fell in love with the city, and it has been added to the list of European cities we would like to live in. The big downside of Berlin, though, is our inability to read or understand the German language! So perhaps we can get our friend Tina to move there and we can just go and visit her often!

I’m not sure what it is about Berlin that we like. Whether it be the history (so much of it, and so recent), the numerous outdoor parks, the plentiful reasonably-priced cafes, how bike-friendly it is, the large number of boutique stores or a combination of all these things and much more. We spent most of our three days there wandering various areas of Berlin, taking it in, and feeling a part of the local scene.

We did do a bit of sight-seeing, but there are a heap of the “must do’s” that we didn’t do!
On Thursday morning we did a free walking tour (they make money via tips only) which is a great way to see the main sights, get your head around some of the history and get a feel for the layout of the city. I would highly recommend doing this tour if you go to Berlin. Then that night we went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary and celebrate it we did. Cocktails galore! So we were a little bit late on getting up on Friday morning….

We did check out the exhibition under the Holocaust memorial (its proper name is Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe but that seems a little bit too much for me) on Friday though. It was a really good exhibition and put faces and stories to the atrocities that happened throughout Europe during WWII, but not something that you come away skipping from.

On Saturday was the big football game – Germany vs Argentina. We kind of got how big the game could be when we went out for dinner on Friday night. Every cafe and restaurant had big screens in their windows, or TV sets out on the street, and tables were set up out on the pavement and they were packed, and people were even just standing around and watching games from across the street. And this wasn’t even Germany playing! (Now it may also have helped that the temperatures didn’t drop below 30C while we were there, so perhaps people would have sat outside and watched anything just to try and keep cool!) So on Saturday we headed to Tiergarten to join the masses wearing red, yellow and black. Our photos don’t do the number of people or the festivities justice – but check out some photos from around Germany here. Quite a party, and to make it better they won!

We were going to check out the Reichstag while the game was on, thinking there would be less people in the queue. But, of course all the tourists didn’t care about the game and the queue was just as long as ever!! So will have to leave that tour for our next trip.

There were a number of times over the time we were there where I thought, I should take a photo, but we were just enjoying the atmosphere and feeling (kind of) like a local. But here are some photos from our excursions.

Stocky shows off his “guns” as he tries to cool down a little while we walk around the city